Poppy Hex
by Lady of Spring Rain
Summary: The red team gets a new recruit by the name of Poppy, with her coming comes a whole new arc in the saga of Red Vs Blue
1. Arrival

Hey everybody, it's me again. Don't worry, for all you who read my last piece, this one isn't as sad...more action based. Anyway, I know this one's a bit short but they aren't all as short, I just needed a good opening...

Anyway

Happy Reading!

* * *

(Poppy)

My name is Poppy. I'm nothing special really…I was drafted for militaristic purposes in a war I don't support, but there's nothing I can do about it, not anymore. I'm on the 'Red' side. I'm supporting blood now. I've heard the horror tales of drafted women – rape, murder, abuse, harassment – and I'm scared. I'm being airlifted in tomorrow. I'm being airlifted into a box canyon that supposedly is now outnumbered. I was told there are four men there and one neutral medic, at least on 'my side'. But that's all I know.

(Red Base)

"Al'ight cupcakes" Sarge shouted at his lined up men, Simmons at the end of the line and Grif on the other end. Doughnut was in the middle. "Red command has seen us fit to receive ah new solider. Due to the…situations that are gonna arrive with…her arrival" A heavy southern accent layered on his voice.

"Her sir?" Simmons questioned in his too intelligent way. A women? Was she like the freelancer, Tex? Half shark – half bitch? Would she be like Grif's idiot sister? A dumb whore? What would she be?

"Yes, we are hav'in a girl on dis red base. We onleh h've four rooms an' code requires us tah have all genders' separated." Sarge spoke with heavy tones; it was unusual for the normally cruel and sarcastic leader.

"Sir, we actually get a girl? Will she be a girly girl, like flowers and ribbons girl?" Doughnut asked with all honesty, no humor was in his voice.

"Dough-nut I dune know" Sarge snapped at the pink wearing solider. "She's arriving today, and with the room and board, Simmons and Grif will double up – sorry Simmons – and the rookie will hav' Grif's old room."

"Why can't I just double up with the chick?" Grif questioned ideas in his mind.

"Regulation brownie." It was the clearest thing Sarge had said all day.

"Are we dismissed sir?" Simmons asked carefully, but with a sense of surety.

"Yah yah, wha'ver" And with that Sarge marched up to the top of the base, to sit and wait the arrival of his newest rookie, newest private to yell at and pick apart their dignity.

(Pelican 235 Dignity)

"Solider 3429 you are inbound, you will jump in five minutes." The generic voice was old. The time was too short and too long for the girl in dark amour. Part of her wanted to land the ship, get it over with, part of her wanted to wait, wait till she was able to disconnect her mind from her body and not take credit for the life she was to take. Her hand ran down the smooth black barrel of her gun. Such beauty in death.

"Three minutes to jump" She glanced up; her heart was racing at this point.

"Two minutes to jump"

"Fuck it…" She moved towards the opening, when the pelicans gate opened she was going to jump, her parachute would activate and she would land comfortably in the empty sand lands of Blood Gulch.

"One minute to jump" She took a few deep breathes, letting the stale air wash over her slim body.

"Over target, gate opening, jump now" The orders were simple, generic. They didn't mean a thing to the pilot.

"FUCK IT" Poppy screamed and pushed her body from the grey Dignity. She fell only a few feet before her parachute popped open with an audible snap. The large grey semi – sphere erupted around her. The air was jerked from her body with the pulling of the parachute.


	2. Introduction

(Red Base)

"I think that may be her" Simmons pointed to a parachute and a red limp body attached to it.

"Damn, is she ok?" Grif asked watching her fall to the ground. He leapt off the red base and ran out to meet her where she hit. He had his machine gun strapped to his orange body and his helmet was being clicked on as he ran. Simmons was quick to follow, his pistol strapped to his hip, helmet under arm. Grif got the body first and almost skid to a stop next to her he hit the ground so hard on his knees. His knife was out within a few seconds as he started cutting the wires holding the oversized grey fabric to her frail body.

Simmons was on his knees next on the other side of the red body also cutting at the lines. They worked in near silence for only a minute or so to cut all the wires from her body. Grif released the snap holding her helmet on. The electronics in his own militaristic helmet began taking vital measures. Simmons kept peeling the heavy puzzle pieces of amour off her body leaving her in only her under-suit. Small screens showed up in Grif's helmet of her vitals. Everything was normal; she was just knocked out from the fall.

"How…?" Simmons started but trailed off; he knew he wouldn't have to finish for Grif to understand what he was talking about.

"Fine. We're going to need Doc to do an official scan; the helmets are only some god forsaken number correct."

"78 Correct" Simmons cut in.

"Shut up." Grif snapped back, it wasn't a shut-up-you're-better-then-me but a shut-up-I-don't-care. Simmons grumbled in response for a few minutes.

"Go get Doc" Simmons finally snapped. Grif just looked at him.

"You will have to eventually. I have higher rank then you. Go"

"You're a private"

"And Sarge will listen to me cockbite."

"Jackass"

"Go."

Grif just grumbled and started to run towards the too familiar blue base.

(Blue Base)

"Church! Church, look at this, that orange guy – Grif – is coming over here. He's got his hands up, like surrendering" Tucker shouted to his fellow blue guy. Church walked over to the edge of the base's concrete top. The orange body was walking towards them at this point. His gun held up and his arms with it.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT RED?" Church shouted at Grif. Grif stopped at the top of the rise.

"WE NEED DOC." Grif shouted back.

"WHY SHOULD WE GIVE YOU DOC?" Church shouted back.

"I would like to remind you that I'm…" Doc started carefully. He had a feeling that stirring up waters with this man wouldn't be the greatest idea he had. Not after what happened with Tex.

"Shut up Doc" Church snapped.

"IF YOU LOVE HIM THAT MUCH HE'LL BE BACK IN A FEW HOURS" Grif snapped at his enemies.

"HE'S ALL YOURS" Church shouted back, pushing Doc towards the exit. The word 'Love' scared Church into submission and he knew it.

"THANKS" Grif yelled back once Doc reached him.

"Why would they need Doc?" Tucker continued.

"I dunno, maybe they shoot each other too"

(Red Base)

"You awake yet?" Simmons asked, almost gently, towards the now moving body.

"I think so…what happened?" The words were tedious and unsure.

"I think you fell from the Pelican…"

"Pelican 235 Dignity" She interjected. It was automatic – a snappy response to something she had once had beaten into her mind.

"Uh, yah sure, anyway I think the cables strained too hard and the bag didn't release in time, don't worry, you seem to be ok though." Simmons finished ungracefully. She had bold dark red hair, it fell to her mid-back (Which surprised the maroon wearing solider, aren't women supposed to have hair that only goes long enough to pull it back?) Her eyes were darker then emeralds and yet brighter too, her skin the color of whitewash or ivory. She was slender in build with a small chest.

"Oh…" She whispered from peach colored lips. "Well you seem like you would know. Is this the Blood Gulch Red Base?" She asked carelessly. She really didn't care anymore. If she was captured the same would happen to her as if she got to her official base.

"Yes ma'am it is" A bold, regulation red solider marched over to them. It was Sarge.

"Are the captain?" She asked pushing herself to stand. Simmons watched carefully incase she collapsed or something.

"Yes Ma'am" Sarge replied, finally reaching the grassy spot where Simmons and the newest recruit stood. The moment he said 'Yes' she snapped into a salute and held it waiting for her orders to release the extensive hold.

"At ease" Sarge quipped quickly, as though the words were new and foreign but he wasn't sure he liked them. She fell into the relaxed position. She held her posture firm and didn't meet Sarge's eyes.

"Um…" Sarge stuttered for a bit. He was normally lucky if he could get his incompetent soldiers (excluding Simmons of course) in a line – and not even a straight one at that! "You donna need ta do that 'ere. We donna realla care" He stuttered out.

"…what?" She asked completely confused. Her military training told her to always hold your position, salute superior officers and complete all duties orderly and on time.

"Here I'll 'ave Simmons 'ere show ya around" And with that Sarge walked away from the strange new girl with beautiful hair. The girl turned to Simmons and stared at him.

"We're going to wait until Doc shows up to check you over then I'll show you around." Simmons explained his delay. Poppy nodded.

"I'm Poppy Hex." She said after a few minutes of complete silence.

"I'm Richard Simmons…just call me Simmons." He replied to her introduction.

"Simmons? Why do you go by your last name?" She asked carefully.

"Cause other wise I'm Dick and Grif – you'll meet him in a minute – is Dexter. Hell I don't even remember Doughnut's name." He said a little too quickly as if he preferred not to have to tell her.

"Oh….well you can call me Poppy. I hate my last name." She spoke in gentle tones, different from the firm militaristic voice she used earlier.

"So…what do you guys do out here?" She asked, she leaned forward slightly and her hair fell over her shoulder, the curl bouncing slightly. Simmons swallowed hard.

"Nothing really…I mean we've gone through a series of outrageous events all stemming from the blues desire to out number us…" Simmons glared at the sand a bit.

"Do you really hate the blues?" It wasn't a question in the sense of she wanted a yes or no, she wanted a resolution.

"Not really…I don't see why. But it doesn't matter, they're our enemies" He said with a firm controlled voice.

"They're your cousins, brothers and friends" She whispered.

"And sisters" A new, firmer, gruffer voice murmured. Both soldiers glanced up at Grif and Doc.

"You're back…Poppy this is Grif or cockbite" He pointed to the orange one. Grif nodded his head.

"And the other is Doc; he's neutral in this and is as much blue as he is red…." Simmons growled lightly.

"Hi there, so let's check you out, heard you took a nasty fall…" Doc kneeled down beside her. Poppy grew deathly silent, she simply watched him move and feel for any breakage. Eventually he took a strange glowing thing and scanned her vitals.

"Well it seems you're all finished and fine. Well, do you mind if I hang out here? With you guys for a bit, blue doesn't really like me much…" Doc trailed off at the end. He looked at them hopefully.

"Umm, sorry dude we don't have any…." Grif started in attempt to get rid of Doc.

"You can room with Doughnut" Simmons said firmly, clearly undermining Grif.

"Thank you…" She whispered to Doc. No one took note of her words. She arched her back, stretched her legs and cracked her fingers.

"Simmons? Richard Simmons will you please finish showing me around and introduce me to the enemy?"

"Richard?" Grif questioned, unhappy at the first name basis they had.

"Yes, Come on." He pushed himself up and moved to stand next to her.

"This here is red base. We have three floors, Basement level, Middle section and top section. Our quarters are in the basement level, you're taking Grif's old room. Alright I'll show you the inside later, lets go check out the blue." And with that he lead her towards the Warthog commonly called Puma.

"A jeep?" She questioned, "With a big gun" she ignored the passenger seat and jumped up to the gun admiring it slowly. She let bits and pieces leave her mouth as she checked out the gun.

"Does it shoot straight?" She asked carefully.

"Enough, now come on, we don't have all day."

"Dude, the sun hasn't set in three years" Grif called to Simmons.

"Suck it cockbite…don't respond to that" Simmons shouted back. Grif snorted under his helmet.

"Are you guys…?" Poppy furrowed her brows together whilst sliding into the passenger seat.

"No." Simmons replied back.

"Oh…" Simmons kicked the car into gear and started driving it towards the Blue base.

"Can I turn off the music?" Poppy asked, her eyes begging him to allow her to click off the earsplitting tejano music.

"If you can…We can't figure out how" Simmons kept driving steadily. The blue base was in site.

"Alright, lemme go see if I can't chase them out of that base…" Simmons marched towards the base.

"BLUES COME OUT HERE, I HAVE A GIRL" Simmons shouted at the base.

"I take offense to that." Poppy snapped at him. A fierce look was in her green violet eyes.

"Watch it'll work though."

And sure enough a turquoise man was the first out, next was a dark regulation blue one. A lemon drop yellow one was next and the final two were black and pale blue.

"What do you…holy crap they do have a girl…and a hot one at that…" Tucker was surprised.

"Hey Babe, come hang out with us, I'll show you a good time" He shouted to her.

"Bow chicka bow wow…" Caboose said with undeniable speed. Tucker snapped his head at him and glared.

"What do you want Red?" Church shouted.

"Alright, the pale one is Church, he's they're captain…the black one is a freelancer they hired, she's half shark half bitch. The turquoise one is Tucker. He's a womanizer, the blue one is Caboose. He's just stupid. The yellow one is Grif's sister, she's a stupid whore. And…that's it." He turned to jerk the car around and drive off.

"RED! What the hell do you want?" Church shouted again.

"NICE TO MEET YOU…." She shouted.

"They have a real girl…" Tucker moaned.

"Shut up." Tex snapped.

"Bitch" Kerry snapped at Tucker.

(Red Base)

"There you go, a bunch of horny bastards are our enemies."

"And you wouldn't do the same?" Poppy questioned with false innocence.

"I never said we weren't horny bastards." Simmons replied as fluidly as he could.

"Mmm, maybe I need to watch my back then." Poppy said with a fluency denying the intent of her words.

"None of us would ever rape you." Simmons declared with firm astuteness. He was so sure of his words.

"I hope you can stick to that." She whispered, the many horror tales floating her mind. She gulped lightly and shifted to look around the canyon. Simmons attempted conversation a few times but Poppy never responded. She just hummed quietly to herself and kept staring out.

Finally they returned to the simplistic grey base marked only by a few red flags. Poppy disappeared almost as soon as the vehicle was stopped.


	3. Peace

A month passed and soon two and then three. Time dragged on, no one cared anymore. The reds surrendered, the blues surrendered. With every passing day the atmosphere got darker, more haunted.

(Caves)

Poppy had left her amour back at the base. From what she'd seen it wasn't doing much anyway. She was tucked into a cave near the blue base. Nothing militaristic, just singing. A gentle, peaceful song.

She had a small black dress on, it was a simple sundress with a loose bottom and a halter top, cotton made. Her hair was down. She had found a small pool of water, deep in the dark caves. Lit only by a few rays of light that hit the crystals in the cavern, rainbow lights danced along the walls. The water was pure and cold. It was her sanctuary. Her safety from the advances of Simmons and Grif, from the hair ribbons of Doughnut and the bossy orders of Sarge. It was her sanctuary from the blues when they found her and kidnapped her. Then spoke to her as if she was one of their own – a friend. A sigh spilled from her lips.

Something moved in the corner of her vision. She glanced up at the noise. Nothing she could see. She crawled from the pale blue waters edge and towards her towel, flashlight and pistol. She grabbed the pistol and waited in near silence. What happened next was such a blur neither knew what happened. The end result was Poppy straddling a surprised Tex. Poppy had her gun in Tex's jugular; Tex's pistol was shoved in Poppy's flat stomach. They both watched each other for a brief second.

"What are you doing here?" Poppy snapped at the unarmored women below her.

"I'm here to swim, you?" She answered truthfully.

"Same…then you know about this place?" Poppy asked carefully. Her green – purple eyes watched Tex's murky green eyes. Tex had distinctly tanned skinned versus Poppy's pale skin.

"Yah, I do. How did you find it?" The guarded look disappeared in Poppy's eyes as she pulled the pistol from Tex's jugular, she then moved to stand up and allow Tex movement again.

The two enemy girls sat a few feet from each other.

"I saw the lights; it's so beautiful in here." Poppy whispered. Tex smiled and stared at the still water.

"How often do you come here?" Poppy asked the older girl.

"As often as I can get away without anyone following me. I didn't want anyone else to find it" She spoke with unusually soft tones "I didn't want to share it."

"That's understandable, I did the same thing…I didn't want Grif or Simmons or Sarge, and definitely not Doughnut…"

"Doughnut's the pink one right?"

Poppy didn't vocally respond, just nodded and returned to staring at the water.

"Why are you here? In this canyon I mean?" Poppy asked with sudden boldness.

"I'm a freelancer, I was hired by blue command to assist the blue team…I didn't realize Church was here, alive or dead, and…I've been lying to them about my pay now…you tell anyone and you better learn to sleep with your eyes open." Tex threatened in her usual commanding way.

"Church…the blue one right?" Poppy asked Tex nodded her head in a replied yes. "He's your…?" Poppy didn't finish, she wasn't sure what she was asking.

"My…fiancée, sort of. We went out for a long time…I hated the feeling of actually caring about this boy so I cheated, slept around, stole money from him, didn't call for weeks on end. And it was always me curled up in a corner trying to stop tears. He asked me to marry him, and I said yes. I knew I had been drafted, I hadn't told him…I left the next day and didn't see him till he found me and tried to convince me to ditch the program I was in. He didn't succeed. I saw him again a year later at sidewinder…I was ordered to kill his entire party. I left him alive. And now here…and he acts as if we never went out. He used to do little things, never anything major." Tex cut off realizing she was spilling her heart to an enemy, a rival and a girl she barely knew. Silence filled the air, it seemed like there was tension but neither girl was sure of this tension. They both stared away from each other for a bit before Tex begun talking again.

"One time I told him I hated the sheets in his bed, the next time I came over there were new sheets, those fancy silk bamboo ones…" Tex whispered.

Poppy nodded and gave a slight smile.

"Another time we had a date and I called and told him I changed my mind and I didn't want to go, I was actually sick and didn't care to tell him. He came over a half hour later with a huge bowl of soup, a jug of orange juice, a fleece blanket and a thing of honeyed tea. I never told him I was sick, he just sort of knew." Her voice was still a whisper; the last line wavered slightly, as if tears were on the horizon.

"You aren't the half shark the red team makes you out to be are you?" the ruby haired girl pushed her self into a standing position.

"I…am. But I…hate…love Church. Love makes us act like fools right?" She seemed to need the surety that she was acting normal; it wasn't strange for the tough bold women to need a man to tell her he loved her.

"All of us" Poppy declared while approaching the water. "Now I'm going swimming." And in a fluid graceful movement she peeled her black dress from her body revealing her black bikini. She slipped into the crystalline water and sighed as the cool liquid followed over her body. Tex smirked and also stripped to her fire red swimsuit and joined the girl in the water.

(Red Base)

"Grif, Sarge says you're on guard." Simmons said with a stiff controlled voice. Grif opened one eye to glare at him.

"What, like hell the blues are gonna attack anyway" He closed his eye again and appeared to attempt to fall asleep. Simmons sighed.

"Grif…"

"Who is guard duty with me?" Grif asked carelessly.

"The rookie" Simmons didn't really want Grif to spend anytime with Poppy, something boiled in him and burned whenever he thought about it. A slight growl escaped his lips.

"Pop?" Grif asked, shortening Poppy's name. A smile appeared on his tanned face.

"Alright, tell her I'll meet her up there in a few minutes."

"Fine." Simmons snapped and almost marched out of the room. Grif rolled his eyes and moved to go and get his amour on. A few minutes passed of him clicking plates into place and switching the heavy gear on. The machinery ran a diagnostic of the amour and everything was fine. He flexed his fingers in the gear then moved to get onto the top level of the base.

Of course Poppy was already there, her amour piled up in a corner, her body stretched out in the warm sun. She only had on a swimsuit – the black bikini. Her dark hair spilled out around her. A slight smile was on her pale face. Clearly she didn't tan well.

"Grif? Is that you?" She asked, not moving anything but her pale lips.

"Yah" Was all he could say. He hadn't seen a girl like this since he was in training, sisters don't count and it's not like they strip searched Tex when they had her prisoner.

"Oh…how are you?" She asked while pulling herself up from the cold concrete. A slight smile was on her face. Her skin seemed just as pale as it always was.

"I'm fine; Simmons woke me up form sleeping."

"Oh, you didn't have to join me, I would have been fine" She said apologetically.

"Hey it's not your fault, Sarge thinks that we should always be paired up so 'If anyone is about to get shot Grif can jump in front of them and save themselves at the pain of his own death'. Direct quote." Grif moved to sit down and unlock his helmet, a hissing sound came when he unlocked the air unit.

"I'm not thinking Sarge likes you much" Poppy stated, it was the obvious but Grif didn't care, to hear her musical voice was heaven in it's self. To him her voice was like a running creek, smooth and flowing.

"You were a singer before you came right?" Grif changed the subject fairly quickly, he didn't like where that conversation was going.

"Yah…how'd you know?" Poppy questioned.

"I overheard you and Simmons talking."

"Oh…and yah, I was an opera singer." She was clearly nostalgic.

"How did you get drafted then? I thought they weren't drafting women." He spoke, confusion decorating his words.

"They can't but I was protesting too firmly, too strongly. I was part of a group and they changed the laws and drafted us all." She let her voice fall quiet. She continued.

"Then they put us in places like this, places with little combat, and no reward if we win, and move out the efficient soldiers to combat places." She was staring at the ground, guilt digging into her voice.

"I'm just a place holder, unimportant and useless, a tool of punishment. And think about it. If I didn't have such nice fellow soldiers" She smiled at Grif generously.

"I'm sorry…they haven't told us that any of us are moving bases. I think we're fine" Grif said firmly, trying to comfort the beautiful women before him. He had seen tearful women before and didn't want to have to deal with this women crying.

"Hn. Has anyone had to move before I came?" She asked carefully.

"Sweetie we haven't lost anyone since Simmons buried Sarge alive." He smirked at the inside joke. Her eyes grew wide in horror.

"He what?"

"Command told us Sarge was dead and someone was getting a promotion annnd Simmons wanted a promotion and Sarge held to the fact that 'command never makes a mistake' so it was a mutual decision to bury him. Simmons made a bad 'Sarge'." Grif finished, chuckling lightly. Poppy looked at them like they were deranged.

"If you can think it, it's happened here. This place is non combat but it is…strange. With the Church/Tex thing, then the being blasted to the future, then the whole blarg blarg deal, and then Tucker being knocked up and Junior. Then there was Gary and Andy. And O'Malley and Wyoming. Yah…weird how it all happens to us…" Grif summed up his entire adventure.

"…Tucker got knocked up? I thought Tucker was a guy…" She said with gentle firmity. She was confused and baffled.

"He is"

"…"

"I know."

"No. No you don't."

"Ok."

"I'm going back to tanning"

"So I get to stare at your body"

"Perv."

"I'm ok with that."

"Whatever"


End file.
